President Bola Tinubu after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council Wednesday in Abuja announced the scrapping of the Ministry of Sports Development and the Niger Delta Ministry.
The president named former Nigeria Professional Football League executive chairman Shehu Dikko as the chairman, National Sports Commission. There has been clamor for the return of the National Sports Commission following the decline of sports in the country.
Stakeholders have called for the appointment of technocrats to oversee the affairs of sports in Nigeria, but often politicians are made to run the country’s sports, and the result has always been dismal. The calls for scrapping of the sports ministry grew louder after the Paris 2024 Olympics, where Nigeria failed to win a single medal.
The President also approved the merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the Ministry of Culture and Creative Economy.
In other develop the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed on his X handle that: “There will now be a Ministry of Regional Development to oversee all the regional development commissions, such as Niger Delta Development Commission, North West Development Commission, South West Development Commission, North East Development Commission”.
